One of the things that I can't get my head around my life is that I don't have a garden. I would love a garden. I'd be out there everyday. I would open my back door and stand nursing a cup of coffee looking out at the world to start my day. I don't mind what is out there in the garden, a bit of lawn, a bit of dirt, a nice patio, slabs of concrete, I wouldn't care, I would just be out there enjoying a bit of the outdoors that is all my own.
I would have a chiminea, a small table and chairs so that I could sit out for longer during the year, not just in the summer.
But more than anything I would grow vegetables and herbs. I know that you might have worked out by now that I already do this, but I mean that I would really do this. I'd dig up the lawn if I had to in order to have an allotment space that matched my ambitions. I'd grow vast quantities of everything that I grow at the moment - rows of tomatoes, courgettes, potatoes (OK, I've kind of done that this year but mainly because last year's pots came back to haunt me!), onions, garlic - of all varieties and store them in cans, jars, the freezer, as jam, as chutney, to keep us in local tasty produce all year round...
But alas this is not meant to be. My balcony herb garden, with a few trays of lettuce, does give us mint tea, rosemary, thyme and taragon on a regular basis and our courgettes are coming on a treat but it isn't the same.
However, I've found a solution - the local farmers market. Today I bought broad beans (mine got eaten by black fly last year, so I didn't even try again this year), peas, marrow and courgettes (fabulous ones in yellow and green shaped like gourds, not just the common green ones we are growing) and came home to cook up a storm. Shelling peas and beans while the babe chewed on pods and threw around a few fresh peas and roasting courgettes for a local ratatouille made me feel the satisfaction I get when I'm cooking my own produce. And before you think 'yes, but what did this all cost', well I got around 500g of peas for just £3, fresh from a farm in Kent, marrow for 80p, five weird shaped courgettes for £1 and two bags of broad beans for just £2. Everything was fresh, local and in season so it was all going for a song.
Delicious food from not so far away for not so much, now that is a dream I can get on board with until my garden dream becomes a reality.
http://www.lfm.org.uk/
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